Set in the American South during the Prohibition era, Sanctuary follows the devastating consequences of a young woman’s encounter with a brutal criminal world. When Temple Drake, a privileged college student, finds herself trapped in a remote hideaway occupied by bootleggers, an unsettling chain of events unfolds. As her story becomes entangled with that of the troubled lawyer Horace Benbow, Faulkner exposes a society where innocence is exploited and truth is buried beneath layers of denial.

Dark and relentlessly compelling, Sanctuary is a powerful exploration of power, sexuality, violence, and the corruption lurking beneath the conventions of Southern respectability. First published in 1931, this controversial and influential novel remains one of Faulkner’s most unsettling works. A landmark of Southern Gothic fiction, Sanctuary is an unflinching portrait of humanity at its most vulnerable and society at its most unforgiving.

William Faulkner (1897–1962) was an American novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the greatest literary voices of the twentieth century. Best known for his richly layered portrayals of the American South, he developed an innovative narrative style exploring memory, identity, history, and moral conflict. His celebrated works include The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying and Absalom, Absalom! He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949.